September 2024

You may have heard of veterinary care deserts, geographic regions where veterinary care is not accessible, affordable, or even available. It’s a real problem in the industry, but Trends and the AAHA team are your oasis, and we are here to help you quench your thirst for knowledge.

AAHA President-elect Scott Driever, DVM, recalls his brushes with natural disasters and what he has learned from the experience. The AAHA Community asks for advice on shift-change handoffs. This month’s Scoop headlines include: US Pet Insurance Industry Surpasses $3.9B; FDA Approves First Generic Phenylpropanolamine Hydrochloride Chewable Tablets for Dogs; New Feline Infectious Peritonitis Oral Treatment; Updated Guidelines on When to Neuter or Spay; Domestication Constrains Dog’s Ability to Convey Emotions Via Facial Expressions; and more!

Robin Downing, DVM, MS, DAAPM, DACVSMR, CVPP, CCRP, hospital director of The Downing Center for Animal Pain Management in Windsor, Colorado, answers the 5 questions.

This month’s grand prize winner is Mikayla Wrasse, CVT, of University of Illinois Vet Med South Clinic!

Depending on the type of smoke inhaled and the chemicals associated with the burning materials, patients will need different treatments—and caregivers can expect different outcomes.

In the US alone, about 20 million pets experience poverty with their families and 70% of these animals have never seen a veterinarian, according to the HSUS. Some organizations have been working for years on these access-to-care problems but now awareness by others is growing. The awareness has even prompted the suggestion of a term for it: “veterinary care deserts.”

Though dog rabies is 100% preventable through vaccination, it still kills at least 59,000 people each year—including many children—almost entirely in Africa and Asia. Traveling overseas to help vaccinate dogs for rabies is a powerful way to help save the lives of humans and dogs as part of a global effort to eliminate rabies by 2030.

CBD products for pets are all over the market and are being used by pet owners across the US, but professional and regulatory guidance on these products is hard to come by. This article presents a roundup of recent research and some insight into the future of this growing sub-field.

With natural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, veterinarians must be prepared to respond more than ever. From university-based emergency response teams to local volunteer corps, there are many ways veterinarian professionals are getting trained and involved to tend to animals in times of extreme distress.

A page on wellness insights from the new AAHA Mentoring Toolkit.

A conversation with Casey Callanan, MBA, of Clear Contender, LLC, who offers tips on getting into podcasting and using content for social media promotions.